IIFF2022 | BITTER SWEET by Didem Şahin (Out of Competition)

ACI VE TATLI | BITTER SWEET  2021
Turkey | HDD, Black & White, Color, 70’ | Turkish, German

Director: Didem ŞahinYönetmen: Didem ŞahinScreenplay by: Didem Şahin; Director of Photography: Ahmet Hamdi Ferah; Edited by: Burçak Yurdakul; Cast: Nermin Başak, Sevim Ünal, Sevtap Ünal, Hermann Kottmeier Producer: Didem Şahin Co-Producer: Eda Arıkan; Production Company and World Rights: La Boheme Prodüksiyon.

Based on the director Didem Şahin’s own life and circle, the documentary is essentially the story of the director’s grandmother Nermin who went from Turkey to Germany as a worker in 1963. Nermin’s memory has started fading with Alzheimer’s disease and she has to leave the home where she had lived for years. When Şahin learns about this, she grabs her camera and hops on a train to go from Istanbul to Stuttgart to see her grandmother. This journey by train becomes a journey in time. Through the story of one family, the film tells about the emotional fatigue caused by the migration to Germany and the lives it has touched, including both the bitter and the sweet aspects.